The CWTON register and the property number in listings. What is known today, and what is not

Short term rental. What the 2026 bill would change

CWTON stands for Centralny Wykaz Turystycznych Obiektów Noclegowych, a planned central register of tourist accommodation establishments. It would collect data passed on by gminy (Polish municipalities) about campsites and about the so called 'other establishments' (inne obiekty), in which hotel services are provided. The basis for the register is draft bill UC135 prepared by the Ministerstwo Sportu i Turystyki, the Ministry of Sport and Tourism. The government documents are on the bill's card at the RCL (Rządowe Centrum Legislacji, the government legislation centre), and the provisions on the register in Sejm print 2865.

According to the Sejm's record of proceedings the bill was submitted on 21 July 2026. The first reading took place on 2 September 2026, after which it was referred to the Komisja Samorządu Terytorialnego i Polityki Regionalnej (the Sejm committee for local government and regional policy) and the Komisja Infrastruktury (the infrastructure committee). The committees have finished their work: on 17 September 2026 they filed their report as print 3119, and the bill now awaits the second reading, which may come as early as the Sejm sitting from 6 to 9 October 2026. I also take into account the autopoprawka, the government's own amendment to its bill, print 2865 A of 2 September. The bill is not an enacted act. You can follow the further work yourself: on the sejm.gov.pl website find the search page for prints and type 2865.

A separate matter is EU Regulation 2024/1028, applied since 20 May 2026 under its Article 19. These are European rules on data about the short term rental of residential units. They impose obligations on member states and on booking platforms, not on property owners directly. Print 2865 is precisely the Polish implementation of those rules, so until the act enters into force, no new duty follows from the EU regulation for a host. This date should not be confused with the launch date of the Polish CWTON.

A cottage and agritourism too. But mind the length of stay boundary

The bill lists the renting out of houses, flats, rooms and sleeping places. In the provision on notifying an establishment it also expressly mentions a rolnik, a farmer providing services on a farm. So the mere name 'cottage' or 'agritourism' does not take a property outside the described changes.

There is a discrepancy, though. The official description of the bill in the government's list of work gives a stay of no more than 30 days. The provision in print 2865 itself says 'shorter than 30 days' at a time in relation to one client. That is not the same boundary. When describing the bill I keep to the text of the provision. If you also accept longer stays, leave the assessment of your situation to a lawyer instead of basing it on the phrase 'rental up to 30 days'.

Does a guesthouse have to register

First check how your property is formally entered. A pensjonat (in Poland a legally defined type of guesthouse) classified into that type and holding a category falls under the register of the marszałek województwa, the marshal of the voivodeship, who heads the regional authorities. Other establishments, including guest rooms and stays on farms, have a register kept by the gmina. This division follows Articles 38 and 39 of the current act.

The bill keeps the distinction between the Centralny Wykaz Obiektów Hotelarskich, that is CWOH, and the new CWTON. The provision on the number in listings mentions both registers. This does not mean that every guesthouse has to notify the gmina all over again. The word 'pensjonat' on a website does not answer the question which register the property belongs to. If the documents do not settle it, check with the right office. The planned provision on listings is not limited to CWTON numbers.

What the bill provides for the owner

If the provisions enter into force in this shape, for notifying an 'other establishment' the proper authority would be the wójt, burmistrz or prezydent miasta (the head of the commune: village, town or city) according to the place where the property is located. The number would be issued automatically within the register upon entry into the record. The bill provides for the following steps:

1. Notification with attachments. A draft of the house rules, a statement that the requirements are met, given under penalty of criminal liability, an opinion of an authorised person on fire protection, and proof of payment. The stamp duty (opłata skarbowa) is to be 40 zł for the entry and the same for a change. For existing establishments the bill includes transitional provisions.
2. House rules available on the premises. They would define the hotel day, night quiet hours, rules of use, the ID number and the first name, surname and telephone number of the person responsible for contact in cases of a breach of safety and public order. In the bill this is a document keeping order. No separate penalty for its absence is provided.
3. The identification number of the property in a listing. The bill provides for giving the number in offers of hotel services. Additionally, before putting an offer on an intermediary platform, an entrepreneur or farmer would have to pass the platform the CWTON number.

This is a description of print 2865, the changes in Articles 39 and 44 and the planned Article 45f. Administrative fines of up to 50 000 zł are provided for three things: providing hotel services without an entry in the record or without classification, using designations misleading as to the type or category of the property, and failing to give the number in offers of hotel services. There is no fine in the bill for differences between descriptions of a property and no provision ordering an audit.

Why the number in listings is harder than it looks

Assume you have four portals and your own website. That is already five places to check. On top of that there may be an old subpage with an offer, a separate listing of the cottage and an accommodation directory you remember only when someone calls from it.

Pasting in the number takes a moment. Finding all the offers takes longer. One portal may have a separate field, another may require reporting a correction, and you may no longer have access to an old listing. With two properties there is also the check that every offer received the number of the right property.

The bill uses the term 'offers of hotel services' and gives no closed list of services. So include the offers on your own website in the working list as well. I do not settle here the classification of every old entry or of a mere mention of a property. A doubtful case requires a legal opinion. A list of addresses will, however, help establish what is a current offer, what needs a correction and what a removal request.

The dates have already changed during the work

The July and September versions give different dates. Below is a comparison of Articles 4 and 5 of the bill with points 6 and 7 of the autopoprawka. All dates in the table are proposals, not binding deadlines.

On the internet the date 15 October 2026 circulates as the end of the transitional period for owners. That is a deadline from the original version of the print, concerning the submission of the draft of the order keeping rules, and the autopoprawka moved it to 31 December 2026. It is neither a deadline from the European rules nor a binding date.

None of these dates is a confirmed launch day of the system. The bill provides for the gmina handling existing entries, but also for the host submitting the house rules. It does not follow that with an existing entry the owner will have nothing to do.

What is still unknown

• What the final text and calendar will be. The bill and the autopoprawka may still change in parliament.
• When the system will actually start working. In the documents I checked I found no confirmed operational launch date of CWTON.
• How each portal will handle Polish numbers. There is no confirmed instruction for every service, its fields and its existing listings.
• How the rules will translate to a particular building. An internet description alone is not enough to assess fire protection requirements, the way the property is used or the transitional provisions. The right specialist is needed here, and with legal doubts a lawyer as well.

Do not reduce the whole amendment to the number, either. In its September statement the Ministry confirmed the proposals concerning bans in housing communities and cooperatives and zones designated by gminy. That is a separate part of the bill. Completing your listings does not settle whether a property meets all the requirements for running the business.

What you can do today

1. Check your current entry. For a cottage, guest rooms or agritourism start with the gmina register of other establishments. For a classified pensjonat check the documents with the marshal. Registration duties already exist today, regardless of the CWTON bill.
2. Find your house rules. Check whether they exist, whether they give the hotel day and night quiet hours, and whether they match how you really accept guests. This is preparation for the changes, not confirmation of compliance with the future act.
3. Make a list of your offers. Include the active portals, your own website and the old listings. For each, note who can enter a correction.

The current duty to notify follows from Article 39 of the ustawa o usługach hotelarskich, the Polish act on hotel services. Waiting for CWTON does not replace checking your existing register entry.